Due to our travels to research for the new Kansas Guidebook for Explorers (to be released early 2016) we have temporarily suspended classes.

WHAT IS TAUGHT IN THE CLASS?1) What are the rural culture elements and how to find the explorer attractions in your town.2) How to research and write the copy.3) How to download pictures onto the site and adjust them.4) How to populate your page on the site.

By the time you leave class, you'll know all you need to know to put a page up for your town!THE PROJECTRural communities have lots to offer an explorer audience but the smallest cities seldom have the means to do the necessary marketing.Rural Kansas: Come and Get It is a project to collectively promote rural communities. The first result of this project is the getruralkansas.org website that provides information about explorer attractions AND social networking tools designed to help the world "get" or understand rural life.

HOW DO YOU GET YOUR COMMUNITY ON THE SITE?The communities on the site have taken a class to learn how to research their towns, how to write entries, how to populate the site, and how to create a Facebook page. More than half of the communities that have taken summer classes in 2009 - 2012 are now live.

In 2009, KDOC Travel and Tourism Division (now the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks & Tourism, Travel and Tourism Division) gave a $50,000 to the Kansas Sampler Foundation to be used to start the rural tourism pilot project. Partnerships have been formed with rural tourism organizations across the state.

WHO WILL THIS PLAN BENEFIT?

The "Rural Kansas: Come and Get It" program is designed to prepare the explorer audience and rural communities for each other in a way that will result in a great experience for both. The public who is hungry for Explorer experiences in rural areas will love the easy access to finding things to see and do. Any community that has the gumption to be viable and put out effort will find benefit. The rural culture assessment and Explorer Tourism concepts will help communities see that they do have something to offer.

THE UNDERLYING PURPOSE

The rock bottom reason to do this is to help keep rural communities viable. Every part of the plan is designed with that in mind.

WHO CAN PARTICIPATE?

The plan is designed for volunteer-led communities but rural communities of any size are welcome to take part. If you are not getting the We Kan! e-blasts then notify the Kansas Sampler Foundation of your interest at marci@kansassampler.org.